newbie key confusion

[stardust]

Hello everyone,

I am relatively new to FM and some of the db terminology. Could someone please explain to me the terms "primary key" and "foreign key"? I have gone through many of the forums and seen them referred to. Thanks in advance!

[BobWeaver]

In simplest terms, the primary key is the field on the left side of the define relationships dialog box, and the foreign key is the one on the right.

The primary key is a field in the current (or parent) file that is used to select one or more records from a foreign (child) file. The selected, or related, records in the foreign file are those whose foreign key field values match the value of the primary key in the current file.

[stardust]

Thanks for the clarification! Some of the posts I've been reading make a lot more sense now.